For Love's Sake
by Not Your Dream Girl
Summary: For over half of her life, Kim Conweller's heart has unknowingly been held by Jared Cameron, and she has had to live with that. She just doesn't know if she can live with him suddenly offering her his own. After all, love only exists in fairy tales.
1. Chapter 1

Above the kitchen sink sat a small, single panel window. A small house plant sat on its ledge, its green leaves a far cry from the vibrancy of the trees that lined the small road in front of the house.

Typically, Kim went about whatever business she had at the sink, while keeping an eye out for Luca as he played outside with Kevin, but today, her eyes were stuck on the trees that stretched out before her.

Sometimes, she likes to imagine that when Luca has been raised and has his own life, she'll walk down River Song Road and disappear into the trees that surround it, their practically neon leaves swallowing her like an embrace. She thinks Luca will miss her in the beginning, but by then she will simply be a ghost ship in the sea of trees, and she knows he'll eventually be able to salute her from the shore.

A loud screech pulls her from her daydreams and her eyes fly over to Luca attacking Kevin with a large stick, instantly dispelling all thoughts of disappearing and never being found.

Hastily muting her ipod blaring "Summertime Sadness", Kim slides the window open and sticks her head out, squinting through the perpetual mist that clung to their village.

"Luca!" she shouts to get his attention. He pauses in raising his stick above his head as Kevin takes the opportunity to grab a stick of his own. "What did I say about playing nicely?"

Before Kevin can take a swig at Luca, she continues, "And Kevin! I know your Ma wouldn't approve of any revenge, now would she?"

Kevin sighs and lowers his branch. "No, Miss. Kim."

Kim can't help but crack a smile at how the duo hang their heads like scolded puppies.

"Alright Luca, it's dinner time," she calls out. "You should probably head on home as well, Kevin."

"See ya Luca!" Kevin waves to her brother as he runs off down the lane to his own house. Kim watches until she sees the door open and the younger boy is let in by his mother. Hearing the front door open, Kim leans back into the kitchen and slides the window shut again.

"Make sure you take your shoes off," she calls to him in the foyer as she shakes off excess water from her recently washed jar..

"First you drag me to your job where I have to stay cooped up with that hag watching the _news, _and now you stopped me from winning an epic battle!" Luca enters the kitchen with his list of complaints.

"An epic battle of sticks?" Kim asks with a raised eyebrow. She glances around him and finds his muddy shoes tossed off by the door.

"We were playing knights," Luca grumbles as he crosses his arms petulantly.

"Wash your hands," Kim instructs him as she steps into the foyer to put away his shoes. "There are plenty of games you can play that don't involve violence."

She turns around in time to see Luca squinting up his face and repeating her words in a mocking way. Ever since he's turned 9, he's grown more and more disrespectful towards her, and every day it grew harder not to lose her patience with him.

"I made your favorite, cheesy pasta," she tells him in an attempt to better both their moods. It works as he instantly perks up and rushes to set the table. Kim smiles to herself as she brings over the pot and sets it on the table. The kid still had some manners, it seemed.

As Luca practically inhales his food, Kim takes a moment to observe him. In her mind, whenever she imagined or dreamend of him, he was always a baby, but lately it was getting harder and harder to view him as one.

"So, are you excited about tomorrow?" Kim asks after taking a sip of water. "Fourth grade! That's exciting."

Luca pauses in funneling copious amounts of pasta in his mouth to glare at her.

"I'd be more excited if you hadn't given me this stupid haircut," he snaps around a mouthful of food.

"Maybe I wouldn't have had to cut your hair if you weren't always tangling it so badly," Kim volleys back with a raised brow.

Luca scoffs but resumes eating. Kim smirks at his defeat.

"What about you?" Luca asks once he's swallowed what looked like a lump the size of a baseball. "This is your last year of high school, and you still haven't had a single boyfriend."

Kim rolls her eyes and twirls more pasta around her fork. "Who said I want a boyfriend? Besides I have you, and that's more than enough."

"Eww," Luca groans. "That's gross, you're my sister!"

"I didn't mean it like that, doofus," Kim laughs, reaching over to gently flick his nose. He frowns and swats her hand away.

"I'm out of your league, anyways" Luca mutters, bringing his mouth closer to his plate so he can stuff more food into it.

Her smiles slips off her face as she thinks about his words. Out of her league, huh? There were plenty of people that qualifies as such. Particularly Jar-

Her thoughts are slam to a stop alongside the front door, and in walks their disheveled Father.

"Dad," Kim instantly jumps to her feet as he walks into the kitchen with his filthy shoes. "You're home...early."

"Isn't this my own fucking house?" Dad snaps as he slouches against the counter, grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl and prying the peel open.

Kim glances down at Luca, hoping she can tell him to go to his room with her eyes alone, but he's shrunk into himself; shoulders drawn and head down. At this moment, it seems Dad has finally realized Luca's presence.

"Why are you sitting like a pussy?" Dad demands, making Luca shrink further into himself. Kim instinctively moves over so that she's standing closer to her brother.

"Look at me when I'm talking!" Dad shouts angrily. Kim doesn't miss the tremors going up and down Luca's body as he turns his head up to look at dad.

"You see this banana?" Dad asks, holding the yellow fruit up. "With the way you're heading, you're going to end up like _this."_

With that, Dad tosses down the banana and savagely crushes it into the linoleum floor with the heel of his boot.

"Luca, go to your room," Kim says to him in a steady voice, hating herself for not saying so earlier. Luca practically bolts from his chair and out of his room. Once she hears his steps on the stairs, she turns to the drunk standing in her kitchen.

"Why are you so cruel to him?" Kim whispers, trying her best to hold her tears back.

Dad's blue eyes snap to her's. She's been told back when he was young, her Father was renowned around the rez for his unique beauty, what with half Quileute, half white heritage. Today his lighter features are shrouded with a darkness that seems to radiate off of him, and his once handsome face has decayed with the excess alcohol he consumes.

"Because you fucking spoil him," he practically snarls, pushing himself off the counter. "Where did he get that shirt? I sure as hell don't remember buying it for him."

_You don't buy him anything _Kim wants to scream.

"I bought it," Kim answers as evenly as she can. It was in moments like these the urge to disappear into the tree line was unbearable.

"Oh," Dad laughs barkingly. "I forgot, you cram shit into cans and then scam people into buying it."

"Good thing people fall for the scam, since we wouldn't be able to afford our bills without it," Kim hisses, feeling so angry that she wouldn't be surprised if her head blew up.

"You ungrateful bitch, you should feel lucky that I spend even a single moment working to raise you and that little shit!" Dad yells, waving his arms around drunkenly. "I've had it with you and your fucking attitude. Good luck raising that devil child yourself!"

Kim doesn't stray from her spot as she hears Dad storm out of the house and into his truck, the engine revving to life before he sped back to the bar.

If the situation wasn't so terrible, she would have laughed to herself. Good luck raising Luca? She had been doing that for the past 7 years, ever since Mom had gotten into her own car and drove off, never once looking back.

Forcing herself to move, she gets a mop to reclean the kitchen floor. Once she's done with the chore, she puts away the half-eaten dinner, knowing Luca's appetite has disappeared alongside her.

Feeling less emotional, she finally goes upstairs and knocks on Luca's door.

"What," is his muffled, monotone reply.

Kim cracks open the door and peeks in. Luca has sprawled himself across his bed, face buried into his pillow.

"Hey," she says quietly. "Do you want me to bake you a cake?"

"No," is his expected reply. She sighs and enters his room, sitting on the edge of his bed.

Luca rolls to her side and stares at her with a face too sad to be on a 9 year old.

"Why does he hate me so much?" he asks her in a tiny voice.

"He doesn't hate you," is Kim's immediate reply, even though she knows it's a lie. The truth is, she doesn't know _why _Dad hates Luca so much, only that he does. "It's just the alcohol. It makes him cranky."

"Well, I wish he would just drink himself to death!" Luca shouts, tears filling his light brown eyes.

"Oh, Luca," Kim sighs, pulling him into her embrace. She doesn't have the will to chide him, because frankly, a part of her wishes the same.

Luca burrows himself deeper into her arms and his tears wet her t-shirt. Kim feels so useless as she clings to her weeping younger brother. How could she claim to be a good elder sister if she couldn't protect her brother from such immense pain?

"Please don't leave me with him," Luca cries as he clutches at her tighter. "W-when you graduate, please don't leave, even though you can."

Kim pulls him off of her enough so that he can look into her black eyes.

"I will never leave you," she vows, leaning down to kiss his cheeks. "No matter what."

No matter how much the trees called to her.

* * *

On the days it didn't rain (or rather, rain too hard), Kim biked to school. The rez was too small for a school bus system, and she could take the single public bus that ran through their village, but she'd much rather save the bus fare for more important things, like the electric bill.

Rain or shine, however, she always biked with her deliveries, since she towed her red wagon to her bike where she loaded up her cans and whatever else was the seasonal sell.

The last thing she wanted to do one the first day of school was to wake up at 4 a.m so she could make a delivery to her top buyer, also her employer, Field's Grocery's, but August was plum harvesting season, and her preserved plums were one of her best sellers.

Once she's negotiated the price with Mr. Field's, she helps him load her cans onto a shelf essentially reserved for her items and bikes back quickly to home so that she can take her and Luca too school. For the life of her, she couldn't get that boy to learn how to ride a damn bike, no matter how much time she spent with him. It's like the configuration for the action simply did not exist in her thick-headed brother's mind.

Making deliveries on her bike had built up her muscles enough to bike both her and Luca, but her brother grew bigger (and _heavier_) every day, and by the time she reached the rez high school, which was thankfully down the street from the elementary school, she's exhausted.

Quite a start to the first day of senior year.

She barely makes it in time to her first period, history, but once she's settled in, the school day commences like any other: with her faded deep into the background as her peers intermingled and enjoyed their adolescence. As her teacher goes over the syllabus, she wonders how Luca is doing in his new classroom. Was his teacher nice? Were any of his old friends there? Had he made new friends?

Second period is theoretical physics, and to her great disdain, her lab partner for the year is none other than Paul Lahote, resident hot head. She had had to endure his presence last year in applied physics as well, and had quite nearly bit his head off when he had destroyed their model roller coaster mere minutes before it was due because the track was slightly lopsided. That was her life's first F.

Of course, a part of her empathized with him, as he was perhaps just as alone as her, and deep down she knew such emotional instability did not come with a happy life, but she knew that Paul wanted a heart-to-heart with her just as much as she wanted one with him, which was to say, not at all. Thankfully, he ignores her and for the 15-minute ice-breaker session, neither of the two say a word to each other.

Third period is her elective, anatomy. She's glad she has it right after physics; the course material is interesting enough that it lightens her mood after being stuck with Paul for an entire period.

Fourth period is economics, which is also an interesting subject to Kim since, like Anatomy, it isn't something she's formally studied before. The teacher is also interesting, and Mr. Jeremy Yagan has certainly caught the attention of her female classmates. Kim can admit he's fairly good looking, but unfortunately, her mind is too stuck on a certain boy she has been searching for in all her classes. She knows it's foolish, but she can't help but feel disheartened every time she searches a room and doesn't find him there.

Finally, lunch is awarded to her and she grabs her weathered lunch bag and makes her way down to the cafeteria, looking for her small- and only, group of friends

She's able to spot them because Zoey has decided apparently to dye half her head neon green, and the other half dark blue. Making her way to their table, she sits next to Tessa, who is flipping through a magazine. Beside Zoey, who is eating a salad with chopsticks is Mark, his head buried in his arms as he sleeps soundly despite the noise of the cafeteria.

"Kim!" Tessa exclaims, setting down her Cottage Living magazine. "I haven't seen you in forever, how are you?"

"I'm fine," Kim answers with a smile. "How are you two?"

"Yesterday I made _the_ most bomb matcha tiramisu!" Tessa shares excitedly before growing sheepish. "I would have brought some but it's already finished."

"My frog breeding program is going splendidly," Zoey answers serenely. "Phase two should begin soon enough."

Kim knew Zoey well enough to know better than to ask what were her plans for her animals. The girl wasn't a sadist, on the contrary, she was pretty sure her friend loved animals more than humans, but once you engaged her regarding her experiments...it was difficult to shut her up

"That's nice," Kim says with a chuckle. "What's going on with your hair?"

"Here we go," Tessa says under her breath, picking her magazine back up.

"Humans are far too unaware of just how catastrophic the effects of global warming will culminate into!" Zoey exclaims, her already large eyes growing wider. "My hair is a statement, a reminder that our Earth was made blue and green, but if we continue, these colors will bleed through. Did you know that the E.P.A reported in 2012 that…"

Kim casually tunes Zoey out. It wasn't like she hated the environment, it was just that she had heart so many variations of this exact speech that she could list on her hand the order of points Zoey would go through. Glancing around the cafeteria, her heart skips a beat when _he _walks in.

He was effortlessly handsome. With his jet black hair and sharp gray eyes, he was a beauty unlike any other on the rez, but that wasn't what drew Kim into him. Nor was it his high cheekbones or chiseled jaw...no, it was something she couldn't quite name, but nevertheless there existed a quality in him that simply drew Kim in like spark to a fire.

Beside him walks Sandra Whitely, the prettiest girl in their grade, Clara Jergins, the second prettiest, and the Woodson twins, Austin and Andrew. The group was dubbed as the fantastic five.

It's only when she hears the general chatter of the cafeteria morph into laughter does she realize that Sandra has raised her arm to point at Zoey's hair, laughing. Kim's face burns like tnt set off, yet she can't turn around as she watches Jared lower Sandra's arm and shake his head. Almost immediately, the cafeteria stops laughing and returns to talking loudly.

She whirls around in her seat and ensures her mass of hair is covering her face almost entirely as Jared walks by. Eventually he reaches his seat, and it's like the surrounding mass of students melt away as she watches Jared laugh.

"You know," Tessa comments wryly. "If I had a crush on a girl, I would attract some attention to myself when she was near, not, you know, wipe myself out of existence."

"What are you talking about?" Kim gasps. "I- I don't have a crush on anyone!"

Zoey nods her head in agreement. "I agree. Kim has seemed to move on from her infatuation phase a long time ago."

"That's true," Tessa huffs. "You've had a crush on him since what, fourth grade?"

"Third," Kim corrects before she can stop herself. Slapping a hand over her treacherous mouth, she glares at her two friends who laugh at her misery.

Mark, bless his soul, decides at that moment to jolt out of his sleep.

"Wha's going on?" he slurs, wiping away his drool with the back of his hand.

"Why are you so sleepy?" Kim blurts before Zoey or Tessa can humiliate her any further.

Mark blinks his green eyes several times behind his large circular glasses before he's actually awake. Once he's oriented, he looks back down at the table and draws a random pattern on it with his finger.

"I've been working out lately," he admits shyly. "It's more tiring than I thought."

"Our champ here downed a liter of protein shake in two minutes and has been knocked out since," Tessa snorts.

"I believe Mark's quest in bettering himself physically is rather honorable," Zoey comments thoughtfully. "I hope you find love soon, Markus."

Mark splutters something unintelligible and Kim meets Tessa's equally amused expression.

"Say, what's your fifth period?" Kim asks Tessa. "I'll be the luckiest person during the baking unit if you're in my home ec class."

"Sadly I have home economics sixth period and freaking _math_ fifth," Tessa answers with a pout. "What about you?"

"You have home economics sixth?" Mark asks excitedly. "So do I!"

"Oh, nice," Kim says with a smile. Turning back to Tessa, she finishes, "I have English sixth and a my seventh is a free period."

"What class did you sacrifice for a free period?" Zoey asks, tilting her head.

Kim shakes her head. "I completed my math credit in 10th grade, so I'm not taking math this year."

"What?" Mark nearly wails. "But last year in calculus, you...you said you would take university mathematics with me!"

Kim shifts uncomfortably and looks away from him his gaze. His glasses magnified his eyes, making the distraught in them even more obvious.

"I'm not college bound," she says with a shrug of her shoulders. "It makes no sense to push myself so hard. Besides, I heard calc 2 is extremely hard. Senior year is supposed to be fun right?"

"Fun?" Tessa echoes. "This is coming from the girl who chose anatomy and macro economics as her _electives!"_

"The pursuit of education is fundamental to a developed society," Zoey counters gently.

The rest of lunch passes in a similar fashion, though Mark does appear glummer after her announcement that she wasn't taking math.

The bell rings and Kim packs her empty containers into her bag. Mark appears by her side, and she notes that he _does_ fill in his typical black hoodie more than he used to.

Together she and Mark walk to home ec, the conversation lighter now that Mark has gotten over his strange sadness. They're discussing what they hope will be taught this year in physics when they enter the home ec classroom, finding a seat in the back corner.

Mark is explaining the multiverse theory when Kim's attention is stolen away from him.

It's _him._

She holds her breath as she watches Jared walk to the middle of the room, gracefully sliding into a chair before resting his feet on the table. Sandra slips into the seat beside him as if it were made for her.

Kim has to admit, the two of them make quite the striking image, like a king and queen on their throne.

She glances down at her hands, the skin hard and cracked from years of hard work. If this was a fairytale, a mouse would wave its wand, transforming her into a beauty that would finally catch the eye of Jared Cameron.

"I don't get it," Mark suddenly speaks up. Kim looks up at him curiously. His long hair covers half his face, but she can still see how his eyes are narrowed. "What is it about Jared that makes every girl lose their minds? Is it just his looks?"

"No," Kim answers immediately. "It's not."

Mark finally looks at her. "Then what is it?"

Kim looks away from him and stares at Jared's gray, cotton-clad back.

She remembers the very first time she had stared at that back. She had been 8, and brand new to La Push. Though both her parents were Quilete (well, half on her Dad's side), she had been born and raised in Seattle, where Dad had worked in her Grandpa's accounting firm.

Everything had been wonderful until the economy crashed, Grandpa had a heart attack, the firm went down, and they were forced to move back to La Push. She had had a difficult time adjusting to her new elementary school, and had more or less gotten used to spending every second at school painfully alone.

It was one of those rare days where the sun was actually shining, so of course, her third grade classroom had gone out for recess. The other third grade classroom was also out. That would be her very first meeting with Jared.

Due to their very limited contact, the two third grade classrooms of La Push elementary held a very bitter rivalry. This was usually expressed through turf wars on the very rare playground meetings.

She had been swinging alone when she had witnessed her first turf battle. Ms. Rice's class would be opposing Ms. Hayfield's in a classic game of dodgeball. From what she could see, it was all taken very seriously. One by one, third graders on both sides were knocked out ruthlessly with the bright red ball until only Jared and Joey stood on opposing sides.

At this point, tensions were so high that even Kim had paused swinging and had stood up to see what was going on better. She was pretty sure the two teachers were just as into it as they were.

"Give it up," Jared had called out to Joey. "We all know you're going to lose."

"Be quiet and throw the ball!" Joey had shouted back angrily. Jared simply shrugged and threw the ball. Joey had narrowly missed and Ms. Rice's class cheered loudly while Ms. Hayfield's groaned.

Joey went and retrieved the ball and took a few moments to simply breathe and stare Jared down. Jared had simply stood there. Kim couldn't see his face, because his back was to him, but she still couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Finally, with a battle cry that their ancestors would have approved of, Joey took a step forward and launched the ball with all his might. Jared caught it.

For those unfamiliar, the rules of dodgeball were quite clear: if you caught the ball, you automatically won.

The cheers that came from Ms. Hayfield's class was deafening. It was telling, that Kim had learned Jared's name by an adoring crowd chanting it. Similarly, Ms. Rice's class had surrounded poor Joey angrily.

She remembers that even though he was surrounded by admiring fans, little Jared seemed to care less as he watched anguished Joey being picked apart by his disappointed classmates. Then he did something she'd never forget.

He dropped the ball.

For those still unfamiliar with the rules of dodgeball: if you caught the ball but dropped it before the game was called, you were disqualified.

A silence unlike any she'd ever experienced fell over the playground.

"He won," Jared announced. "Are you happy now?"

There was no response from either class. Kim thinks it was shock.

"All of you also lost," Jared continued. "But Joey can't? That's pretty messed up."

"This is dumb," Jared declared, kicking the ball away from him. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away. After that day the rivalry between the two third grade classrooms disappeared. That was also the day Kim realized she could stare at his back forever. Looking back, what Jared did wasn't unworldly, but to 8 year old Kim, it was a display of heroship straight out of a fairytale.

"Kim?"

She blinks rapidly and realizes that Mark is still waiting for her answer.

"Nothing," she murmurs, ducking her head behind her hair. Mark sighs but doesn't push her any further. Maybe if that was the only anecdote she had of Jared's exceptionalism, she could have answered Mark, but the truth is, over the years she's watched Jared prove over and over again that he had a heart of gold. Sometimes, it made her all to aware of her own appendage, resembling lead more than any other muscle.

The rest of the period is spent with her pretending to pay attention to the teacher and looking over at Jared. He was doodling something on his notebook, but when Sandra tries to see, he shuts his notebook and spends the rest of the period on his phone.

When the period ends, Kim silently gathers her things and makes her way to leave when Mark stops her with a hand on her shoulder.

"I hope this is the year you find a guy that is worthy of you," he tells her solemnly, his braces glinting under the fluorescence.

"...Thanks," is all Kim can manage to say. Talk about random.

Technically her final class of the day, she walks into her sixth period, English.

On the board is written in all caps, SEATING ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY.

Glancing around at post-it notes with last name's on the desks, she finds 'Conweller' by the front and sits down. She's right by the window, so there's only one person sitting beside her. Curious, she leans over to read who will be sitting by her.

Her heart stops when she reads CAMERON.

_Oh my God...I'm going to be sitting next to _Jared. _This has never, ever happened before. Oh my God. What if he talks to me? What will I say? What will I do? Oh my God. Is this a dream? _

And in _he _walks. If Kim had any social skills, she'd wave him over so he'd know where he's seated, instead, she sits ramrod straight, all of her hair pulled over one shoulder to obscure every inch of her face. Jared pauses, reads the message on the board, and then begins searching for his name.

As he nears, Kim quite literally holds her breath.

"There it is," Jared says to himself as he stops in front of his desk. She has no idea if he glances over at her since she's looking down at her lap resolutely, but she feels him take a seat beside her. By chance, she glances up and finds Sandra watching her intently.

It was strange to think back when Sandra's hair was still black and her eyes never had blue contacts in them, the two of them had been best friends.

Sandra breaks their staring contest and walks towards Jared.

"Ugh, why'd it have to be alphabetical?" Sandra complains to Jared, resting her hip against his desk. "I'm stuck all the way in the back."

"At least you're by Todd," Jared says to her. "I'm all alone by myself up here."

Kim tries not to wince at that. Lana was right, she was born to die.

Sandra's response is to laugh. "I'll do my best to keep you company."

"Hey," Jared says, suddenly serious. "If we read Romeo and Juliet for the billionth time, I am _not _going to be Romeo again. Too many fucking lines."

Sandra rolls her eyes sarcastically. "O beloved, one day thou shall be literate."

"Don't hold your breath," Jared laughs.

Kim wishes she could tell Sandra that Jared has read the _Grapes of Wrath _several times, but there's no way of disclosing that without looking like a stalker, and that would also break her golden rule of never ever speaking in front of Jared ever.

This was going to be a long year...

Jared socializes with a few more of his endless friends before their English teacher, the ancient Mrs. Delosua walks in. Not once does he acknowledge her presence.

Delosua was renowned around La Push High. Not so much for her stellar teaching skills, but for her ability to fall asleep the moment things got quiet enough. Kim was fairly certain the older woman suffered from narcolepsy, but most people attributed it to be being bored as hell.

"Good morning children," Delosua croaks once she makes it behind her desk. She was exceptionally tiny, and over half of her is hidden behind the wooden table. "I hope we all get to know each other well and have a wonderful year."

A glimmer of hope begins to grow in Kim. Perhaps she would finally get the chance to speak to Jared, at least _once _before they graduated and likely never see each other again.

"To make sure we understand our source material correctly, we will begin our analysis from the very start," Delosua continues, her bright red nails reaching up to tuck behind her snow white hair. "Take out a pencil and paper. We're sentence diagramming."

Kim's hope dies.

* * *

The final two weeks of August pass by, and as the world approaches mid-September, Kim has reestablished her school routine. Wake up, make any needed deliveries, go back home, get Luca and go to school, sit in silence, frustratedly tolerate Paul, enjoy lunch, stare at Jared while trying to speak with Mark, stare at Jared in silence, go to work, go home, make dinner, do chores, do her homework, and above all, keep Luca as far from their dad as she possibly can.

It's frankly exhausting, but after so many years of doing things on her own, she's used to it. It's not like she has any other option when dad goes out and drinks away a third of his income.

There are a few things that keep her going, of course. Primarily, Luca. Underneath the preadolescent drama, he's still the goofy, sweet boy she's always known him to be.

Then is her trio of friends, with Tessa's steady flow of homemade baked goodies, Zoey's strange but lovable idiosyncrasies, and Mark's ability to always teach her something new, they almost never fail to cheer her up after a particularly nasty encounter with her dad.

Finally, of course, is the highlight of her days: observing Jared.

It's not just that she was lusting after his visage. While it was true he was almost unbearably handsome, whenever she watched Jared interact with the world, her heart felt light. He was just so _kind. _And while Kim knows he's no saint, to see someone so well-loved, so popular, so _cool _still remain so humble and never once use his elevated social standing to make someone feel lower than him...it was just so _admirable. _

And then he disappears.

_A/N:_

Hey y'all, it's me, writing fanfiction for a book I read a decade ago. If there's anyone that still reads twilight fanfiction, welcome! I know this was a very wordy first chapter, but I promise the pace will pick up significantly starting the next chapter where a certain werewolf imprints on a certain girl ;) Also, I realize the tone of this chapter is rather angsty, but rest assured, while there will be angst, there'll be plenty of humor too :)

Thank you for reading, and see y'all soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Because she had to wait for Luca to finish school as well, Kim spent her free period in the library, tucked away between the shelves of whatever genre she felt like reading that week. She knew she should spend the time doing homework, but she felt that even she was allowed a 45 minute break.

This week was ancient Greek literature, but she was having a hard time focusing on the words in front of her.

Tomorrow it would be an exact week since Jared had come to school. The rumor mill was at an all-time high, with the most popular theory that mono had taken Jared out. Kim doesn't know if she believes that. Firstly, none of the popular girls were out, so who had given Jared mono?

With a start, she quickly rummages through her mental catalogue and tries to remember if any popular guy is out sick too. When she can't think of any, she sighs in slight relief.

_What am I thinking? _Kim scolds herself. _Something could be terribly wrong with Jared and I'm sitting here acting like an idiot. _

But...even if she knew why Jared had suddenly disappeared, it's not like she could do anything to help him. And even if she _could_ help him, why would he accept? The two of them had never even spoken.

Trying to distract her heavy heart, she looks back down at her book.

"_Love is composed of a single soul dwelling in two bodies."_

Suddenly aggravated, Kim slams the cover of the book shut. If there was one thing she was sure of, love didn't exist on this stupid planet. Sliding the book back in its place on the shelf, Kim gets back. She needed to get Luca and go to work. Not sit here and dwell on something that existed only in fairytales.

* * *

"Why do I always have to come with you?" Luca complains from his spot on her handlebars. Kim pants as she pedals them up a slope, having to peer around her annoying brother to see where the hell she was going.

"Because," Kim gasps once they reach the top. "I can't leave you alone at home, and I can't afford a babysitter either."

Luca over his shoulder to glare at her as they coast down the hill.

"Why the heck can't I be alone?" he demands angrily. "I don't need a stinking babysitter!"

"Because the last time I left you alone you flooded the first floor," Kim reminds him through gritted teeth.

Luca wisely faces forward again. Kim rolls her eyes at his back. Little punk.

Soon enough, they reach _Fields Groceries_ and Kim brings them to a stop, Luca hopping off and trudging in sullenly. After locking up her bike she also steps inside, the bell above the door signaling her entrance.

"Afternoon Mr. Fields," she greets as Luca browses the chocolate aisle.

"Kimberly," Mr. Fields returns with a nod of his permanently Vietnam Vet Cap clad head. "What's the 411 for today?"

Mr. Fields was...an interesting one. For one, he wore his cap in hopes of someone starting a conversation on the war, to which he'll always launch his spiel of how disastrous a mistake Vietnam was, not really because of political inclination, but because the man _loved _drama. Seriously. Whatever was the hottest gossip of the rez, Mr. Fields was the one to go to for a scoop.

"Nothing much," Kim answers as she retrieves her apron and ties it on.

Mr. Fields makes a noise of disappointment and returns to reading his tabloid.

"Is the hag asleep?" Luca asks Mr. Fields as he takes a bite out of a twix bar.

"Luca," Kim sighs tiredly, rubbing at her eyes. What was she going to do with this boy?

"Should be," Mr. Fields grunts, licking his finger to flip a page. The "hag" the two of the were referring to happened to be Mr. Fields wife, Mrs. Fields. She stayed in the couple's trailer behind the store, and didn't do anything more than watch t.v. and argue with Luca over what they would watch on t.v.. In case you hadn't connected the dots, she was the one who "watched" Luca while Kim worked.

Luca nods and reaches for a Snickers bar to take with him as well.

"Only one," Kim reminds him sternly. Luca meets her gaze with a glower of his own, but Kim doesn't back down.

"I'm not fat like you, I can eat whatever I want!" Luca shouts angrily before storming out the back to the trailer.

Kim's face burns in humiliation. It was true, she had been cursed with wide hips and a larger bust that she went to great pains to hide beneath baggy shirts and pants, but it seems she's failed in hiding her hideous body.

"Don't listen to him, Kimberly," Mr. Fields speaks up, not looking up from whatever article he was reading. "You have a wonderful figure, you just need serious fashion counsel."

Kim purses her lips and silently walks to the registrar, where she notes the deduction from her pay for Luca's snack.

Mr. Fields finally looks at her.

"Kimberly, I've told you, there's no need for that," the older man sighs.

Kim just shakes her head and jots the numbers down. She didn't accept charity.

For the rest of the afternoon, Kim takes care of the shop as Mr. Fields either reads or gossips with customers. She usually tunes this out, but today, a particular conversation catches her attention.

"I'm telling you Terry, there's something wrong with Sam Uley," Mrs. Norris, another notorious gossiper sniffs. "Have you seen him lately? I don't think even steroids can make a man so big!"

Kim pauses in restocking doritos to listen. Sam Uley had graduated already as he was a year ahead of them, but he was one of Jared's close friends back when he was still at school.

"Didn't he break up with his girl to go after her cousin?" Mr. Fields muses. "Maybe he's trying to impress the new dame."

"Even if that were true, there's no way you can get so...so muscular so quick!" Mrs. Norris exclaims. "There's something fishy going on Terry, I'm telling you."

Kim slowly stocks the doritos. Could Jared's disappearance have anything to do with Sam Uley? She had absolutely no evidence for this claim other than Sam and Jared were casual friends but...No, she needed to stop herself now, before thought herself into another rabbit hole.

Taking a deep breath, Kim refocuses and moves on to Cheetos.

* * *

Tomorrow would officially be the 14th day that Jared had walked off the face of the planet. Much of the student populace had moved on from teasing rumors to genuine worry over his sudden vanishment.

Kim could barely eat.

"C'mon Kim," Tessa urges her encouragingly. "This lemon sponge cake is really delicious, give it a try!"

She just shakes her head and returns to stabbing at her salad lifelessly. What if Jared was terribly sick? What if he had been kidnapped? What if he was dea-

"You know, maybe this is a good thing," Mark suddenly comments. Kim's eyes flash up to his angrily.

"What do you mean by that?" she asks in a low voice, her eyes narrowed.

"You can take this time to finally get over that jerk," Mark huffs, looking away from her gaze and down to his own food.

Kim straightens in her seat and glares at her friend.

"How is he a jerk?" she asks, unable to help feeling offended.

Mark stiffens but doesn't look up or say anything. To her surprise, Zoey speaks up.

"Infatuation has a tendency of only allowing us to view the person of our desires with rose-tinted glasses," Zoey says slowly. "Jared has hurt many people in ways you're unaware of?"

"What are you talking about?" Kim asks impatiently.

"In seventh grade, Jared outed me to all his friends when he joked that because no guy wanted me, I had to turn to girls," Tessa blurts out bitterly. "It was after that I was bullied for being gay."

Kim's mouth falls open at this confession. She had known Tessa was bullied for her orientation, of course she had, but she had _never _known that Jared had been the one to start it all.

"In eighth grade, Jared asked me out in front of all his friends," Zoey adds in a quiet voice. "He told me to meet him at first beach at 9 pm. During the winter. I went and he never showed up. The next day he and all his friends laughed at me when I asked why he hadn't come like he promised."

Kim feels as if the axis of her world has quite literally tilted. Surely they could not be speaking of _her _Jared Cameron...he would never do anything so...so _despicable_.

"I have my fair share of fond memories of Jared," Mark says sarcastically. "But I think you get the point. He's not the knight in shining armor you've made him out to be."

"You can do so much better, girl," Tessa says with a faint smile.

"Why didn't any of you tell me this sooner?" Kim asks faintly, trying her hardest to hold her tears back.

"Didst thou but know the inly touch of love, thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow as seek to quench the fire of love with words," Zoey quotes airily.

Mark furrows his brows. "Huh?"

"It doesn't matter," Kim cuts in, feeling a strange sort of numbness wash over her. "It's not like I ever loved Jared. It was just a stupid crush."

Tessa raises a questioning brow. "Was?"

Kim nods. "Was."

Mark grins widely. "I knew you'd come to your senses eventually!"

* * *

When she goes to the library after yet another English class with no Jared, Kim returns to the Ancient Greek section and randomly pulls out a book.

In her hands is the play, _Medea._

As she begins to read the age-old tragedy, a tightness in her chest is born and grows with each line she reads. She is not married to Jared, nor does she have any children with him, and yet the betrayal Medea feels burns Kim the same way it did realizing that the Jared she knew and dreamt about was all made up in her head.

How could she been so _stupid?_

As she reads the play, this line in particular sticks out to her.

_MEDEA: Love, did you say? It is a mighty curse._

_Oh Medea, _Kim sighs sadly to herself, tracing the Greek woman's pained words with a single finger. _How much pain you would have been saved from if you had realized that love is just a cruel trick our stupid hearts try to play on us._

* * *

Kim's already low mood plummets when she sees how hard it's raining. They'll have to take the bus for sure.

Pulling out her umbrella from her bag, she opens up the peach-colored lifesaver and walks across the street to La Push Elementary. Luca usually came out fairly quickly, but today of all days he was taking his sweet time.

Kim impatiently shifts her weight on her feet as young children and their parents walk around her. It was not yet even October, but with the steady fall of rain, the afternoon temperature was more than chilly, and Kim was beginning to grow antsy.

Finally, she catches sight of Luca's big head as he prances out the main entrance with his friend Ethan.

"Luca!" Kim calls to get his attention. Luca tugs Ethan along and the two of them scamper towards her.

"Kim!" Luca greets cheerfully once he and Ethan are huddled under the umbrella. "Ethan invited me for a playdate. Can I go?"

Kim shakes her head. "I'm sorry Luca, but it's raining really hard and Ethan lives on the other side of the rez. You can always go over on the weekend."

Luca's young features darken dangerously.

"You _always _say no to everything!" Luca screams angrily. Ethan glances around awkwardly. "I'm sick of this, I hate you!"

It takes everything in Kim not to scream back at his stupid face.

"I don't care if you hate me or not," Kim hisses, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from a very uncertain Ethan. "We are leaving."

Luca punches her arm. It's not really the force of the blow that shocks her, but the fact that Luca wanted to physically hurt her. And he did.

"You're not my Mom," Luca spits, his eyes almost as black as her's as he stared at her with unabashed hatred. "Let's go, Ethan."

Kim just stands there dumbly as she watches her younger brother walk off towards the bus stop. She doesn't move even as she watches him climb onto the bus and retrieve her wallet he must have stolen this morning and pay for his fare.

She's too numb.

Eventually she forces herself to move, but she doesn't have the energy to ride her bike, so she simply drags it alongside her as she trudges back home, the rain soaking her to the bone.

He had taken her wallet without asking. Because he anticipated she would say no. And he didn't care about what she said.

Right before she turns on River Song Road, she glances at the trees beside her. It would be so easy. Just drop everything and melt into the forest. The only thing that stops her is the repulsion of becoming exactly who her Mother was.

Her little pity party is cut short, however, when she realizes her Dad's truck sat there in the driveway.

Running up to the porch, she tosses her bike aside and hastily lets herself in. Not caring that she was creating a puddle on the floor, she runs in and looks around wildly.

"Where's the fire?"

Kim whirls around with a gasp. Dad sat at the kitchen table, _seemingly _sober.

"I- I was just," Kim splutters trying to get a grip on the situation. Why was he home early, and more importantly, why was he sober?

"I got a call from your school counselor," he answers her silent question, which only creates a billion more.

"What...did she say?" Kim asks hesitantly.

Dad actually _smiles _at her.

"She said you're the top student of your year," he tells her, his voice actually _proud_. "She wants me to come in and sign a form that will get you a free S.A.T test. She said you have a full-ride to Seattle University practically in your hand."

From the start, Kim's very best subject was mathematics, a trait she most likely inherited from her accountant Father. The very same Father who also wanted her to grow up and become an accountant.

Kim takes a deep breath. Time for the shit show to begin.

"You don't have to do that," Kim says evenly. Dad immediately stiffens.

"Why is that?" he asks in a forcibly calm voice.

"Because I'm not going to college," Kim replies, bracing herself for the impact.

"And why the _fuck _not?" Dad roars, getting up from his seat so quickly his chair falls over.

"Because I have to stay here and take care of Luca!" Kim shouts exasperatedly.

"Fuck that kid!" Dad yells furiously. "You're gonna go to Seattle, and you're gonna become a goddamn accountant!"

"Become an accountant, and then what?" Kim taunts even though she knows she shouldn't. She's just too past the point to give a shit anymore. "Stumble around angrily, constantly drunk?"

If Dad _had _been drunk, there would have been a lot of yelling, cursing, and things being thrown around. But because he's sober, something even worse happens. He chooses the words that will cut you to your core

"You're as stupid of a whore as your fucking mother was," he tells her as his entire body shakes with fury. "You're gonna get married, get knocked up, and die as miserably as you lived. And you know what? I don't care anymore. Should have known since you look just like that cunt, you'd end up the same way too."

By the time he finishes, her nails are digging so deeply into her palms that her skin nearly breaks. If there was something Kim hated in this world, was any association of her to her mother.

_I am nothing like her _Kim reminds herself vehemently. _Never was, never will be._

Kim tenses as he walks out of the kitchen, but he walks past her to the door. Just when she thinks he's going to get the hell out, he pauses and looks back at her.

"And Kimberly? Don't think as soon as the boy gets the chance, he won't spit on your face and desert you."

Kim has no response to this, her mind replaying the events that had happened outside the elementary school. No mental assurances that dad was wrong speaks up. His words weigh her down until she feels as if she's about to collapse.

The reverberations from the door being slammed shut is so strong, she feels her ribs rattle amongst the hollowness of her chest.

The short walk to her room is a daze, and the bleak hours melt into one another as Kim cries her pathetic heart out. By the time her eyes dry out, she's trembling from hunger, exhaustion, and a poisonous mix of anger and sadness, but she can't move from her spot curled up on her bed.

She hates herself unspeakably for this, but in this moment where she's stuck in this deep pit, she can't help but yearn for Jared. She knows, she _knows_ fairytales are just tales of fiction, woven together with grandiose lies, and yet still she imagines Jared appearing on her balcony, sliding the glass door open and sliding her into his arms.

The sun disappears and neither Jared nor anyone else comes to rescue her from herself. She expected nothing different, but it's just another brick in her face reminding her how truly alone she really was in the world.

She's nearly fallen asleep when the home phone downstairs rings. Kim wants nothing more than to ignore the shrill noise and finally let her mind shut down, but she's reminded of Luca, who still isn't home and it's _dark _outside.

"Fuck!" Kim curses loudly as she springs out of bed and sprints downstairs. Breathlessly, she picks up the ancient machine.

"Hello?"

"Kim," Ethan's Mom greets cheerfully. "How are you?"

"How's Luca?" Kim blurts, her anxiety battling with her self-hatred for having the audacity to _forget_ her baby brother.

"Oh, he's fine!" Mrs. Farrow reassures her, slightly surprised. "I just wanted to call and ask if he could sleepover. It's late already and they're both pretty cozy."

Kim opens and closes her mouth. Luca has never slept over at anyone's house before, she's never allowed it. And to allow him to sleep over _tonight, _when he had school tomorrow? It was preposterous. But then she looks around the dark house, and then thinks of Luca over at his friend's place, happy and surrounded by light.

"Sure," Kim answers flatly. "Should I drop off some pj's?"

"He and Ethan are around the same size," Mrs. Farrow says kindly. "I'm sure I'll find something that'll fit. Any specific bedtime routine?"

"No screen time after 8," Kim lists off robotically. "And he has to have a glass of milk before bedtime, which is sharply at 9. Also you have to make sure he flosses both rows of teeth."

Mrs. Farrow laughs pleasantly.

"Sounds good," she says agreeably. "Have a good night, Kim."

"You too," Kim mumbles as she hears the line go dead.

* * *

Because Luca has her wallet, Kim has no money other than her emergency fund hidden away in her college. The cold temperature and heavy rain makes Kim almost reconsider using said fund several times, but finally she forces herself out of the house and onto her bike.

That money was for Luca, not for her.

Needless to say, she's in anything but a good mood as she stalks to her locker, desperate to strip some of soaking layers.

Mark is standing in front of her metal storage space, and Kim sighs internally. She doesn't have the energy for conversation today.

"Good morning, Kim," Mark greets cheerfully as she approaches the maroon locker. "How are you today?"

Kim just nods her head as she fiddles with her lock. Mark takes this as a positive response and continues speaking.

"That's good. By the way, I have something really cool to tell you! Last night I was reading and I found out that-."

Kim tugs down her lock, but of _course _the fucking thing jams. Could nothing go right in her shitty life?!

"Find out what?" Kim snaps, looking up at Mark who's staring across the hallway with his jaw hanging open. Frowning, Kim turns around and nearly passes out.

Walking down the hall was Jared Cameron, except it _wasn't_ Jared Cameron. It was an insanely tall, muscular GQ model that happened to have the face of Jared Cameron. Kim and Mark weren't the only ones to notice this drastic transformation. In fact, as Jared made his way far too gracefully for his too-big frame to allow, the throngs of students automatically parted to clear a path for the annoyed looking Jared.

If Jared was a magnet before, he was a nuclear power plant now, and Kim was a single hydrogen ion.

When he walks by her and Mark, Kim can't help but feel as if she's momentarily surrounded by a heat wave, but the moment passes and Jared is halfway down the hallway.

"What the hell," Mark breaks the silence between them. "Is he on steroids?"

"I...have no idea," Kim whispers, still stunned if she was being completely honest.

"Jesus Christ," Mark says under his breath. "Dude leaves for two weeks and comes back a super soldier. I don't trust like that."

Suddenly, her mind reminds her of a conversation she had overheard at work.

"_I'm telling you Terry, there's something wrong with Sam Uley. Have you seen him lately? I don't think even steroids can make a man so big!"_

Kim opens her mouth to share this information with Mark, but at the last second snaps it shut again. She wasn't a gossip, and she had no concrete evidence that Jared was involved with Sam Uley. She knew Jared wasn't the knight in shining armor she had made him out to be for so many years, but her heart still refused to believe that Jared would participate in anything...terribly wrong.

The five-minute warning bell goes off and Kim shakes her head. She needed to get to history.

They have a substitute in history, and are given a packet that they can work on together with a partner, due next class. This, of course, means that everyone spends the period excitedly speculating what had happened to Jared in the two weeks he was gone.

So far the theories Kim had overheard were:

-Abducted by aliens and experimented on

-Werewolf transformation

-Steroids (most popular one)

-Natural growth spurt (shockingly the least popular one, but this was personally what Kim believed)

-Abducted by the government and experimented on

-Sold his soul for a six pack (Kim was fairly certain he had one before he went Hulk Holgan, but she digresses)

There were several more far-fetched theories, but at the end of it, no one knew what had happened to Jared to the two weeks he had disappeared.

_Stop thinking about him_ Kim tells herself as she tries to focus on her packet. _You need to move on from this stuipd crush._

She's able to somewhat block out her classmates for the rest of the period and then she makes her way to physics.

Kim tries not to grimace at the very prominent scowl on Paul's face as she takes a seat beside him. Actually, if the guy wasn't so emotionally constipated, he could have passed as good looking with his sharp features and light brown eyes. Instead he's rabies embodied.

"Did you do the homework?" Paul barks once she's seated. Kim narrows her eyes at him.

"Yes," Kim answers stiffly. She was forcing herself to stop reading Greek tragedies and actually do her homework on ahead of time.

"I didn't," Paul snaps, features twisting further. Kim gives him her best _and how is that my problem? _face.

"Oh, fuck you!" Paul suddenly yells, springing up and making Kim stiffen in fear. Paul was an asshole, but he wasn't a menace, and Kim genuinely didn't know how to react Everyone in the class looks up in surprise, and the bell also decides to ring at that moment, drawing their teacher in.

"Class has started, Mr. Lahote," Mrs. Binning remarks offhandedly.

"Fuck this class," Paul snarls, shaking violently. A collective gasp goes through the room.

"You bitches think you can be the next Rachel Black or something?" he demands angrily. "Well let me tell you something, she's probably a crack whore in Seattle and you all will end up the same!"

"What on earth-" Mrs. Binning is interrupted by Paul storming out of the classroom.

"I...I'm sorry for that," Mrs. Binning stutters, holding up a hand to her pale face. Looking away from the door and to the table she was forced to share with Paul, Mrs. Binning looks at Kim.

"Kimberly, do you what triggered Paul to burst out like that?" Mrs. Binning asks exasperatedly. Kim's face burns as the entire class turns around to look at her.

"I'm not sure," Kim is able to answer in thankfully a steady enough voice. Mrs. Binning shakes her head and launches into a lecture on respect and self-control, even though the guy who actually needs to hear it isn't present.

The class drags by and finally Kim makes it to anatomy where Kim pours through the textbook on muscle growth and development as the teacher lectures on the sleep cycle. Her innocent assumptions about Jared's growth spurt aren't really backed by science, but she could admit she was just scraping the barrel.

Lunch is a whole new fiasco. Jared, it seems, as decided to cast away the fantastic five as he moodily chows down an unholy amount of food. Clara and Sandra gaze and Jared's long figure longfully while the Woodson twins glare at him in betrayal.

"Holy shit," Tessa whistles. "That's a beefcake if I've ever seen one."

"Indeed," Zoey agrees. "Do you think Jared has joined the occult?"

"Oh, please," Mark scoffs, strangely not asleep during lunch for once. "That's a clear case of steroids if I've ever seen one."

"Steroids wouldn't work so quickly," Kim counters quietly, not removing her eyes from Jared's back. His back, what was once the most familiar part of Jared to her, now looked like a stranger's.

"What do you think it is, Kimberly?" Zoey asks curiously. Tessa and Mark look at her to gauge her answer as well.

"It doesn't matter," Kim replies, picking up her peanut butter and jelly (both made by her, by the way) sandwich. "Jared Cameron has nothing to do with me."

"That's the spirit," Mark encourages with a bright smile. Kim ignores the look Zoey and Tessa share.

Mark chatters happily to her as they make their way to home ec, and Kim tries to listen to him, she really does, but she's still shaken by the events that happened in her house yesterday and has a difficult time responding. Mark doesn't seem to notice and continues chattering about blackholes.

Even though they arrive to 5th period fairly early, Jared has beat them. Kim's heart nearly skips straight out of her chest as when she walks in and finds him seated with his massive arms folded across his wide chest, his handsome face clouded as he sat deep in thought.

Pulling her hair hastily over her shoulder, Kim makes her way quickly to her seat.

Life just wasn't fair. Kim finally makes the decision to get over Jared, and he comes back looking like _that. _Could you blame her for her red cheeks? She needed to listen to a Lana song before she lost her entire cool.

Realizing Mark has been silent since they walked in, she glances over and finds him watching Jared through narrowed eyes. Before she can get him to knock it off, Sandra walks in.

"You can't keep avoiding me," Sandra says once she's standing in front of Jared. The muscles of Jared's back tense momentarily before relaxing once more.

"I'm not avoiding you," Jared answers. Kim can't help but feel lightheaded at the new deeper timbre of his voice. God hated her, that was for sure.

"Not avoiding me?" Sandra cries incredulously, blue eyes wide. "What do you call telling us the four of us you don't want to eat lunch with us anymore?"

"It means," Jared says through gritted teeth. "I don't have the patience for your bullshit anymore. Now be quiet, I'm too tired to listen to your shrill voice."

Sandra gasps, and Kim can't help but feel sorry for her as tears fill her eyes. She ducks her head, straight blonde hair momentarily hiding her face.

"It's like I don't even know who you are anymore," Sandra hisses, snapping her head back up to glare at him. Jared shrugs nonchalantly. With an agitated shriek, Sandra storms out of the classroom.

Kim wonders why fleeing the classroom in a fit of rage was becoming a common motif amongst her peers.

Class soon begins and there's an air of tension in the classroom as everyone not so covertly stares at Jared.

Remembering how she feels when too many people look at her, Kim removes her eyes from Jared's back and focuses on her worksheet that explains the proper etiquette of forks. Jared was just as human as the rest of them, and deserved his privacy.

_But does he? _A snobbish voice in her head contests. _Have you forgotten what he's done to your friends? _

Kim clenches her jaw and takes a deep breath through her nose. That's right. Screw Jared Cameron!

Unfortunately her next class is with him as well, and Kim follows him at an awkward distance to English. Luckily, her legs are so much shorter than his that she couldn't walk closely to him if she even tried.

When she finally enters the classroom, Jared is arguing with Mrs. Delosua.

"I've been gone for two weeks," Jared reminds her angrily. "I can't take this reading quiz!"

"It is the student's responsibility to keep up with coursework during absences," Mrs. Delosua sniffs. "And because your parents did not turn in a doctor's note, I cannot excuse you from the quiz."

"That's because- ugh. Forget it," Jared sneers, marching to his desk and pulling out _Hamlet _from his bag. Instead of reading it however, he just glares at it.

Uneasily, Kim makes her way to her seat beside him. Jared doesn't pause in trying to set his play on fire even when she walks past him, nor when she sits down

Back in 9th grade, she and Zoey had gone through a _Shakespeare _phase where they had read his greatest hits, including Hamlet. Kim was fairly confident in her memory of the play, enough that though she didn't review any of her notes yesterday due to an unscheduled mental breakdown, she knew she would do well on the quiz. Jared on the other hand…

_Is NOT your problem _Kim reminds herself sternly.

Mrs. Delosua passes out the quizzes and Kim begins to gingerly fill in her answers. Delosua is particularly cruel today, because the quiz isn't even multiple choice, it's short answer, meaning there's no way you can guess the answer.

She's about halfway through the front when she realizes that Jared's huge form is looming too close to her. Because he's now so big, he doesn't really fit properly into the desks anymore, and so he sits at an angle, his long legs folded in her direction. But now it's not just his legs that are next to her, his face is inching closer too. Before she can freak out, her mind connects the dots.

He was trying to cheat off of her.

Talk about crossroads. Did she stick to her convictions and cover her answers? Did she listen to her heart and let him see?

Why oh why could she not have gone to a girls only Hogwarts?

Kim then remembers a line from the very play they were being quizzed on.

"_This above all: to thine own self be true."_

These were the facts: Kim thought Delosua was being unfair for making Jared take a quiz on his first day back after being gone for 2 weeks. She also knew that she would think it would be unfair to anyone else, and that if she was in Jared's seat, she would be eternally grateful if someone helped her out.

And so Kim moves her arm and tilts her paper so that it's easier for Jared to read.

Unable to help herself, she glances over at him. He looks up from hastily scrawling what she had written and their eyes meet. It's as if she watches his pupils dilate in slow motion. Jared's pencil falls from his fingers and lands loudly on the floor. At the front, Delosua twitches, but doesn't wake up from her impromptu nap.

Embarrassed at getting caught staring, Kim quickly ducks her head. But Jared doesn't pick up his pencil. Or look away from her. Even though her hair is hiding her face, Kim can feel his eyes on her like they're gamma rays.

_Is there something on my face? _Kim thinks desperately. Looking into her reflection on the window beside her, she sees nothing on her face beside what's supposed to be there. She makes the mistake of looking at Jared's mirrored image as well, and feels her face burn at the...dazed expression on his face? She didn't know if that was the right word to describe how he looked at the moment, only that she had never seen someone stare at someone else like that before.

Maybe..her answers were off? Picking up her paper and bringing it close to her face, she hastily skims through her answers but finds nothing outrageous. Her hands tremble slightly as she lowers her quiz back to her desk.

_Dear lord in heaven above me, I am BEGGING you to explain to me what the _hell _is going on right now._

Kim takes in a shaky breath and glances over at Jared again. Big mistake.

A large, goofy smile spreads across Jared's face, his long dimples making their appearance in his cheeks as his lips stretched apart.

Kim tries to smile but it comes out more of a grimace. Maybe Mark was right, Jared was doing hard drugs, because that was the only plausible explanation for this situation.

_His brain cells have been damaged beyond repair _Kim tries to reason with herself as she picks up her pencil and resumes filling out her quiz. _This is him trying to show gratitude while high as a kite._

She's only halfway through the next question when Jared suddenly reaches out and sweeps her hair back behind her shoulder. Kim sits absolutely frozen, face probably looking like a stunned guppy as Jared's fingers gently brush against her cheek as he tucks stray strands behind her ear. Once her hair has been removed, his fingers begin to gently trace a line upwards then downwards on her flaming cheek.

_I think I'm about to have a heart attack._

"Mr. Cameron, is there any reason why you are stroking Miss. Conweller's face during an individual assessment?"

_Ok heart attack, now would be a good time to happen. I'll even settle for a stroke._

Jared doesn't answer. In fact, he seems to ignore her completely as he continues to touch her face, his eyes never once looking away from her. When a nervous laughter rings through the class, Kim hastily slaps his hand away and shuts her eyes tightly.

_Hades, if you're there, _please _open up the Earth and let me fall straight to hell. That would be better than this._

"I am _speaking _to you Mr. Cameron," Mrs. Delosua repeats acidicly as she gets up and walks towards them.

"Huh?" is all Jared says, still not looking away from her. The class laughs a little louder this time. Kim is tempted to pry the window open and jump out.

Delosua snatches up Jared's quiz and reads it before doing the same with Kim's. Perfect. The one time Kim broke a rule in school, and she's caught.

"Since you like staring at Miss. Conweller and her answers, you can continue to do so in detention today," Mrs. Delosua tells Jared angrily.

"OK!" Jared agrees happily. This time the class is too stunned to even laugh.

Kim, on the other hand doesn't find this funny.

"P-please Mrs. Delosua, I can't do an after school detention!" she practically cries. "I have-"

"That's enough!" Mrs. Delosua snaps. "If detention is inconvenient for you, you should have thought about that before cheating."

This time Kim's eyes burn along with her cheeks. Who was going to take Luca home?

"HOW DARE YOU!"

Kim jumps so high in her seat that her knees collide against the desk painfully. Shocked, Kim looks up at a fuming Jared that's stood up to his full height and is glaring at Mrs. Delosua like he's about to tear her apart.

"You can't speak to her like that!" Jared practically roars. "Apologize to…"

Everyone watches in bafflement as Jared momentarily trails off. Sheepishly, he turns to Kim.

"Hey, uh, what's your name?" he asks timidly. The class is anything but timid as everyone bursts out into hysterics.

Every ounce of embarrassment Kim has felt in the past 5 minutes transforms into a sharp rage. How fucking _dare_ he humiliate her so terribly when she was simply trying to help him.

"Sit down Jared," Mrs. Delosua sighs. "The both of you get zeroes."

Jared complies and returns to staring at her, although this time his expression is remorseful.

Kim has to resist the urge to kick him in said face.

It was official.

KIM CONWELLER WAS _OVER _JARED CAMERON!

_A/N:_

Ok, even though I said I wouldn't ramble as much, this chapter is longer than the last. Sorry, I will definitely work the length. Besides that, we finally got to the imprint, yay! There will be a whole lot more Jared now :)

_Review Responses:_

Guest: Glad you do :)

Sara: Thank you! And yes, I do trust my readers, in fact I love them a lot. I hope you continue to enjoy Kim's growth as a person.


	3. Chapter 3

The bell has hardly begun to ring when Kim's chair scrapes angrily against the floor.

She blinks back tears of humiliation as she practically runs out of the classroom. The sound of her classmate's snickers feel like needles on an exposed nerve, and Kim isn't sure if she's about to throw up or pass out.

"Wait, please!"

Gnashing her teeth together in rage, Kim resolutely ignores Jared's plea as she storms down the dimly lit hallway.

Before she can go any further, however, something large and very warm is wrapped around her elbow and turns her around. For a moment, the turbulence of emotions that had been swirling around her mind silences as her body absorbs the feel of Jared's hand on her arm.

Warm. It was too warm. _He _was too warm. And his eyes, they were too close. Her breathing suddenly turned shallow and the loud buzz of the hallway dimmed to a distant ringing. In the back of her mind, she was aware that she was downright furious with Jared and had just sworn him off, but the rest of her mind was simply too stunned by the silver of his eyes and how they seemed to be drinking her in.

_I feel like...I could sit in his soul._

"Kim?"

Her name being spoken snaps her out of whatever black magic Jared had cast on her, and she looks over and finds an extremely disgruntled Mark staring at her.

Tearing her arm out of Jared's grip, she bounds over to Mark and takes a hold of his hand. Somehow, his expression becomes even more shocked.

"Mark, I'm so sorry to do this, but I really need to ask you a favor," Kim says in a high-pitched voice as her panic returns full-force.

"Uh, uh yeah Kim..I-I'll do anything for you," Mark stutters, his eyes continually flicking from her to something behind her.

Still holding his hand, she pulls him over to her locker and begins to fiddle with her lock. From the corner of her eye, she sees a figure so large that it can only belong to Jared's move to the other side of her. His appearance makes her fumble for a moment, but finally, she gets her lock to open.

As she opens her locker, she almost imagines that Jared is...shaking. Shaking her head, she retrieves her home key from her backpack and turns to Mark.

"Please Mark, I need you to pick up my brother Luca from school and take him home," Kim requests desperately. "Can you do that?"

Mark tears his eyes away from Jared to smile widely at her. Kim now _knows _she's going crazy because it's like she can FEEL the vibrations Jared was emitting.

"Is that all Kimmy?" Mark asks, sounding surprised. Kim herself is surprised at his sudden use of Kimmy. "Here I thought you were going to ask an actual favor. I'll take Luca home, no problem."

"Ok, but can you also stay with him until I can come home?" Kim asks. "There's a rice dish in the kitchen, and if Luca wants sour cream I made some and it's in a container with a bright blue lid. He absolutely cannot have soda and if he wants to have a snack he can have grapes. His bedtime is 8 and that means he can't watch T.V after seven. He has half an hour of free time when he comes home from school, but after that, he needs to do his homework. He took a shower yesterday so-"

"Kim!" Mark breaks in, squeezing their still joined hands. "I think we'll be ok. It's just a few hours right?"

"Wait," Mark says as if he's just realizing something. "Why can't you go home?"

Kim purses her lips tightly.

"I have detention."

This seems to set something off in Mark. His cautious expression turns icy, and he lets go of her hand to sidestep her. Confused as to where he's going, she turns and finds Mark standing a few centimeters from Jared, both boys looking like they were about to tear the other apart.

Her mouth fell apart when she finally saw that Jared really was shaking unlike any tremor she's ever seen, his face a look of pure fury.

_Is he going through withdrawal?_

"You got Kim detention, didn't you?" Mark hisses accusingly.

Jared's arm shoots out and with just one hand, he lifts Mark until his toes are just barely touching the ground.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Jared growls in a voice so low, Kim barely hears it even though she's standing right beside him. At this point, a crowd has formed in a semicircle to watch what looks like will be a very messy fight.

Without thinking, Kim ducks under Jared's outstretched arm and shoves herself between the two boys, squishing herself between their chests. Immediately, Jared lets go of Mark and pulls her back with him as he takes a step back, putting some distance between her and Mark.

"Luca is about to be dismissed," Kim reminds Mark, begging him with her eyes to not escalate things any further.

Mark looks anything but happy as he nods, and with one last vicious glare shot at Jared, he makes his way to the exit. Kim's shoulders sag in relief, and it's only then does she realize that her back is plastered to Jared's front. He seems to have stopped shaking, because he's eerily still against her, and his chest feels like steel against her shoulder blades.

She's just about to spring away from him when his huge hands turn her around to face him. Not letting go of her, he looks at her with a gaze of such intensity she actually feels faint.

"Who. Was. That?" Jared asks her in exaggerated punctuation.

_Why is this happening? _Kim thinks to herself dazedly as Jared holds her in the middle of the hallway. _What is so different about me today from yesterday that has suddenly made Jared act so strangely?_

Memories of years upon years of feeling like a dried paint chip on the wall resurface to Kim's mind. Years of silence, of feeling like she didn't belong, of loneliness and wishing she was someone else.

Kim shakes her head and steps away from his grip.

_Don't let this attention get to your head _she tells herself wearily as she retrieves her bag and shuts her locker. _He's just feeling guilty for getting you in trouble and wants to pick a fight with Mark because he's a douchebag. _

"Kim...who was that?" Jared repeats, his voice almost sounding genuinely pained as he follows her. He really didn't believe she could be emotionally blackmailed that easily, did he?

"You really don't know most of your classmates, huh?" Kim snipes instead of answering.

Jared quickly catches up to her and bends down so she can see his remorseful face as they walk towards detention.

"I am so sorry, Kim," he apologizes profusely. "I should have known your name, I should have! The only reason I didn't was because I am a complete idiot, but I promise I'll never forget another thing about you again."

Kim simply gives him an unimpressed side-eye before looking forward once more. The two of them are watched by every eye in the hallway as they walk to detention, and Kim has no doubt that tomorrow they will be the talk of the entire school. Great.

They enter the small main office and are directed to an even smaller room that is the office of the Vice-Principal.

A very frazzled Mr. Calloway looks up from an extremely messy pile of paperwork.

"Yes?" he asks impatiently.

"We're here for detention," Jared answers, radiating such intense depression Kim wants to snort a Prozac.

Mr. Calloway melts in relief.

"The ex-wife and I are supposed to meet for lunch," he explains hastily as he throws on his coat. "It is _imperative _that I can't be late so...just organize these papers and we'll call it even."

Kim's eyes widen as she realizes what's going on.

"You're not going to supervise us?" she asks incredulously, watching him pry his office window open.

"No," he replies evenly. Kim's mouth actually falls open as she watches the middle-aged man climb out the window. He's halfway out when he looks back at them.

"Please don't tell anyone I left," he pleads. "Oh, and don't have sex in my office either. It's completely unhygienic."

Kim sputters but is too thrown off to actually formulate a reply. With a slight bang, Mr. Calloway shuts the window and dashes off towards the parking lot.

The tension between her and Jared is so palpable she's half-convinced she could reach out and touch it.

"That's crazy he thought we would have...you know, haha," Jared remarks awkwardly. "I wonder if he thought we were a couple? Would that be crazy or no? Haha..."

Kim just stares at Jared as he half grimaces half grins at her.

"Listen," Kim begins wearily. "I don't know what the hell is going on with you, but please, leave me out of it."

Just like that Jared deflates and he looks down at his shoes as if she's stolen his favorite toy. With a sigh, she takes a seat and tries to figure out an approach as to how to deal with the chaos that was laid out in front of her.

Jared also takes his seat beside her and begins to nervously fidget. Maybe it was getting close to his time to take another dose of whatever powerful drug he was on.

"What's your favorite color?" he asks timidly.

"Can't you try to see I'm trying to do the work that _you _landed me in?" Kim finally snaps.

Jared flinches and rubs the back of his neck.

"I was just asking so I could pick a folder," he murmurs, gesturing to various colored stacks of folders on the bookshelf beside him.

Guilt floods her like a tsunami.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, rubbing her face tiredly as she forced herself to put herself in his shoes. It really wasn't his fault he knew her name when he had no reason to, and he had been nothing but apologetic since. Well, minus that altercation with Mark, but Mark hadn't been the patron saint of peace either. "This is just a lot for me…"

His hand on her shoulder makes her look up, and she nearly melts in her seat from the warmth of his eyes.

"You have nothing to apologize for," he says so surely she has no choice but to believe him. "I got you in this mess, and I'm going to get you out of it, promise."

Kim cracks a small smile at that. "How?"

Jared smirks at her. "Let's just say I can read very fast."

The next hour is a whirlwind. Jared really wasn't lying when he said he read quickly. He could hold a document for just a few seconds and that was all he needed to scan it and determine its contents. Once he was done with that, he'd pass it on to her, and it was her job to file them away properly.

Surprisingly enough...Kim enjoyed herself. Jared took on the role of a newspaper editor from Brooklyn and she was his underpaid assistant who would get scolded with the funniest complaints when she was too "slow".

Before she knew it, they had cleared Mr. Calloway's desk and filed away all the folders neatly, everything labeled clearly and neatly.

"We make a pretty good team," Jared chuckles, running a strong hand through his shortly-cropped hair. For the first time that afternoon, he was acting like his usual self, and that brought a blush to Kim's cheeks.

"I should get going," she murmurs, ducking her head and wondering how on Earth she had survived being in a room alone with him for so long.

"Oh, shit!" Kim gasps as she suddenly remembers that her brother is alone at home with Mark. Not waiting for Jared, she runs out of the office and into the pouring rain. She frantically puts in her bike lock combination, but the stupid fucking thing jams and won't open.

Just as she's about to scream in frustration, a hand gently pries hers off of the lock. In shock, she watches Jared tug open her lock as if it were made of aluminum before lifting it off the ground with one hand.

"I'll give you a ride home," he offers and begins walking off with her bike without waiting to hear her answer.

_It'll be faster..._Kim reasons with herself as she unsurely follows Jared. He sets her bike in the cab of his truck and walks over to the passenger side to open the door for her. She thought stuff like that only happened in country music videos.

Jared's truck is unreasonably raised, and there's no foot rail, leaving her with the daunting task of having to climb into the seat. Before she can do that, though, Jared's hands are on her waist and he lifts her into his truck like she's filled with hydrogen gas.

Her heart races as he shuts the door. Even though he was no longer touching her, she could still feel his hands against her ribs as if they were still there. Those few seconds where she had been suspended in the rain, held up only by Jared's hands...she could live in that moment deliriously forever.

But of course, she can't, and when Jared gets into his seat and turns his truck on, Kim's awkwardness returns tenfold.

"Thanks," she practically whispers, clutching her hands in lap tightly.

"No problem," Jared replies easily. "Do you live on the west or east side of the Res?"

"West," Kim answers in a tiny voice.

Jared pulls out of the parking lot and onto the main road at an outrageously slow speed. She always figured that guys like him were into speeding and dangerous stunts, but as he drove alone she was pretty sure he was going significantly _below _the speed limit.

"So, Luca, he's your brother, right?" Jared asks her, glancing over at her as he drove at the speed of a snail on meth.

"Yeah," Kim replies, looking around to see if she could find any speed limit sign.

"I think it's sweet how much you care for him," Jared continues. "I've got two sisters. My younger sister is 8 and is the funniest person I know. She can also roast people like a flamethrower. I love her way too much. My older sister is 23 and honestly, we were never that close, but ever since she moved back home, we've bonded since my nephew is the cutest thing alive."

"How old is your nephew?" Kim asks, intrigued at this glance into Jared's personal life.

"Four months," Jared answers proudly. "If you open the sun visor, there's a picture of him and my younger sister."

Kim does as he says, and sure enough there's a picture of a young girl sitting on a sofa with an infant in her arms. She can't really see the baby's face, but the girl bears a large resemblance to Jared, even with her huge grin.

"How precious," Kim smiles genuinely before it becomes sad. "Yesterday, my brother and I got into a fight and he went to his friend's home. This is the first time I wasn't there to take him home, I just hope he doesn't think I'm angry with him…"

The truck suddenly speeds up.

"Everything will be fine," Jared assures her. "I'll get you home in no time."

With Kim directing him, they indeed make it in record time. She's still retrieving her key from her bag when the door is opened and a crying Luca flings himself at her.

"Kim!" he exclaims, winding his arms around her tightly as he cries into her chest. "I th-thought- I thought you had a-abandoned me."

A guilty-looking Mark appears in the doorway.

"Poor guy has been upset all afternoon," he explains as Kim hugs Luca back. "I tried explaining but…"

"Luca, why would you think such a silly thing?" Kim admonishes gently. "What would I do without you, my little wolf?"

Luca sniffles and looks up at her with his puppy eyes, the very look that had earned him the nickname little wolf.

"I'm sorry for being an infected butthole yesterday," he apologizes in a tiny voice. Kim resists the urge to roll her eyes at his vocabulary.

"I forgive you," she chuckles.

"Guess I should get going," Mark excuses himself as he leaves the house, only to come to a dead stop on the porch. Kim looks behind her and finds Jared standing in the rain, watching the three of them.

"Is that him?" Luca asks angrily. "The fungus filled dickhead that got you detention?"

"Watch your mouth!" Kim snaps, scuffing him on the back of his head. "Who teaches you such filthy language?"

Luca pays her no mind as he glares at Jared. With a sigh, she pulls him into the house. At this point, she is too exhausted to worry about Mark and Jared. The two of them could have an actual sword fight in the yard for all she cared at the moment.

She had bigger problems to worry about. Like getting the upset boy in front of her into a good mood.

* * *

_A/N:_

Finally, a slightly shorter chapter lol. I hope you guys enjoyed it! As always, constructive criticism is always greatly appreciated. Take care!

* * *

_Review Responses:_

Tee: I will write more! I hope you read more too ;)

Kerry: Thank you, and yes I am!

Cristina: Thank you!

Anon: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the imprint scene :)

JaredxKim Fan: I will, and thank you!

Sara: Thank you soo much!


	4. Chapter 4

She's never felt colder in her life.

Her veins seem to be growing smaller and smaller as the iciness settled into her skin. But that was just an afterthought. All she could focus on was running as fast as her legs could possibly carry her.

The forest was dark, and the path she fearfully tore through seemed to grow narrower and narrower, constricting with every painful breath her lungs heaved in.

There was something chasing her. Even without looking back, she knew it. She could _feel _it.

As her right foot collided into the damp ground once more, she felt the phantom grip of whatever was chasing her begin to ever so slowly close around her neck and-

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

It physically hurts to open her eyes. Every muscle in her body was tense from the nightmare, a fresh sheen of sweat layered on her skin.

For a minute, Kim just lies there, miserably listening to her alarm go off. She hadn't slept well last night. How could she, when she had to analyze and reanalyze every second of her interaction with Jared? After doing that for hours on end she had come to the conclusion that this was one of Jared's new cruel games, similar to the ones he had "played" on her other friends.

And of course, when her exhausted mind finally fell asleep, she was struck with a nightmare that still left her unsettled.

For a moment, she wishes she was a normal teenage girl. One with a father that took care of her and her brother, so she didn't have to wake up hours earlier than she needed for school to make deliveries so there could be enough money for the electric bill.

With a fist, Kim silences her alarm clock.

She was never one to pity herself for too long.

Just as it had been in her dream, it's frigidly cold outside. Even tucked away in her worn mittens, Kim's fingers shake as she hitches her wagon to her bike, her jar of freshly preserved plums tightly secured.

The perpetual mist that clung to La Push doesn't help matters, and Kim pulls her scarf up so that it's covering half her face as she mounts her bike.

God. She couldn't shake how tired she was. Even with the cold and the rain, she could curl up on the ground and sleep if she could.

Kim forces herself to begin pedaling, her legs already straining from the heavy load she had to pull.

_You'd think all this exercise would make me skinny at least…_

At 4:30 am, her only companion was Lana Del Rey's sad voice crackling through the shitty Dollar General headphones she bought years ago.

Or so she thought.

Out of nowhere, a huge shirtless man runs out from the treeline beside her, nearly making her fall over in fright.

"Oh!" her right foot comes down to balance her as she comes to an abrupt stop, and once she's stabilized she looks up to see who is the madman standing in front of her.

"Morning Kim!" Jared greets brightly.

Though her mouth is covered by her scarf, its wide open.

It seems that Jared did not check to forecast before going out for his morning jog because he stood before her in nothing but basketball shorts. Tearing her eyes away from the muscles that seemed to glisten in the morning mist, Kim looks up at his face to stare at him incredulously.

"Are you insane?"

Jared seems hurt by her comment. "No. Why?"

She genuinely fumbles for her words. "It's freezing cold...and you're shirtless."

The reality of his wardrobe finally sets in on Jared, and he blinks several times before looking down at his scantily clad body.

"Oh, yeah," he laughs awkwardly. "I was...out for my morning run. It warms me right up."

_You know what? It is too early for this shit. If Jared wants to catch pneumonia, who am I to stop him._

She brings her foot back to the pedal and resumes her slow bike ride to the general store. To her great annoyance, Jared strolls without care beside her.

"Where are you going with all those jars so early in the morning?" he asks curiously, leaning over to glance at the wagon that squeaked along pathetically.

_What will make him go away faster, answering or ignoring him?_

"I have a deal with the grocery store," Kim explains as she tries not to grunt from exertion. "I make preserves and jams. Sometimes I can vegetables or sell them fresh. Or if it's offseason I'll sell soaps or other homemade things. The point is: I am very busy."

She said the last part with careful enunciation, but it was completely lost on Jared.

"Wait, wait wait," he splutters. "You grow vegetables? In La Push? With all this rain?"

"I build a deck into the ground to control how much water seeps into the dirt," she explains. "And I covered it with a tarp so rain wouldn't get in."

"But if it's covered how do your plants get sunshine?" Jared asks, seeming genuinely curious.

"I built a few solar lamps," Kim admits, surprised he actually cared enough to ask a question no one else had wondered before. "All you really need is a jar, some LED's, and triple-A batteries."

"Wow," Jared breathes, looking to be in genuine awe. "You're the smartest girl alive…"

Despite the cold, Kim's cheeks warm at his words.

_NO! Remember our talk from last night, you CANNOT fall for this cheap shit._

She's ready to increase her speed and bolt away, but unfortunately, she's reached the hill that is simply too steep for her to bike up with all her jars. Before she can dismount tho, Jared places his hand between her handlebars and begins pulling her uphill.

"And hardworking too," Jared continues as he effortlessly pulls her along.

She's so stunned that she doesn't even think to pedal. The guy was pulling with _one _hand as if he were dragging a sack of potatoes, not a 120-pound girl, her bike, her wagon, and a dozen filled jars.

"How long have you been doing this?" he asks her, not noticing her shock.

"A few years…" Kim murmurs, wondering if she was actually still asleep.

Jared continues complimenting her until they reach Field's Groceries, and even once they're there, he doesn't leave, instead electing to help her unload the jars. Kim goes along with this silently until she's recorded everything in the registrar and is back outside.

"Don't you need to head back home?" she practically snaps at him as he stares at her expectantly.

He seems taken aback by her tone, but he recovers fairly quickly.

"Actually I do..mind if I borrow your bike?" he asks her with a smirk.

"What?" Kim nearly gasps. "No! I need my bike to get around places."

"I'll bike you back home since it's on the way to my place," he explains. "Then I can return it when I come to pick you up with my truck."

"No thank you," Kim responds through grit teeth. "I don't need a ride."

"But I do," Jared gestures to her bike with his head. "If I walk home I'll surely be late, but with a bike…"

Kim throws her hands up in defeat.

"Fine!" She simply did not have the energy to argue with Jared when the sun still hadn't risen.

Jared grins and after taken a minute to adjust her seat he mounts her bike.

"Hop on," he tells her, patting between her handlebars. Unable to stop herself from glaring at him, she awkwardly attempts to get up. She's never ridden passenger on a bike, and it shows because she nearly slips, only to be saved by Jared pulling her up by her hips.

"You good?" he asks once he's settled her. She can only nod, too humiliated to be able to make a sound.

Unlike her, Jared disregards the sidewalk and steers them to the center of the road. She doesn't say anything since there aren't many cars out at this time anyway, but his style of swerving lazily through the streets certainly doesn't sit right with her.

"What are you doing?" Kim hisses as he continues to snake her bike down the hill.

"Enjoying my time with you," is his response as he pedals them along.

"Hmph," as if such a cheesy line would work on her.

Still, when they coast down the hill he had pulled her up on, a small smile blooms underneath her scarf as it feels like she's flying.

After some directions to her house, Jared drops her off with the promise to be back soon. As she watches him depart on her shitty bike she can't help but commend Jared in his effort to make her look like a fool.

As it usually is, waking and getting Luca ready for the day is an Olympic sport. He's by the door putting on his shoes when she breaks the news to him.

"We're getting a ride to school today," she says as she hands him his lunch box.

This cuts through his bleariness. "Huh? Why?"

Kim shrugs, not wanting to explain the whole ordeal to him. "Just cause."

He doesn't reply, but she can tell he's suspicious. When they leave the house, Jared's truck is already outside.

"Who is that?" Luca asks with narrowed eyes.

"Jared," Kim answers simply, ushering him along.

Once they're closer, Jared gets out and walks over to open the passenger door for them.

"Good morning," he says to Luca with a friendly smile. Luca simply glares at him.

Kim nudges him. "Where are your manners?" she whispers to him but he ignores her, getting into the truck without acknowledging Jared.

Jared closes the door behind her and gets in the driver's seat.

"So, what's your name?" Jared asks Luca, who sits in between them like an angry gnome.

"Mr. Kick your Ass," Luca snipes.

Kim gasps loudly at her younger brother's audacity.

"Who taught you that word?" she asks him shrilly, resisting the urge to smack his head.

Luca mutters something under his breath that she can't make out.

"Did I do something to upset you?" Jared asks him cautiously.

"Yeah, be born!" Luca exclaims. This time Kim doesn't hold back and delivers a swift smack to the back of his head.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she demands. "Apologize this instant!"

Luca glares at her before facing Jared.

"I am sorry...that you exist!"

Kim covers her face in mortification, wishing she could ship her insolent brother to a boarding school in Siberia.

"Heh," Jared chuckles, shocking her. "That's probably what my mom said when the condom broke."

"What's a condom?" Luca asks hushedly.

"ENOUGH," Kim practically shouts, glaring at Jared, who does for his part look slightly remorseful.

Jared turns on the radio after that and hip hop is the only thing heard for the rest of the awkward ride. When they reach the elementary school, she gets out of the truck to let Luca out and doesn't get back in even though she hears Jared call for her.

_Why is this happening to me? This is what I get for complaining so much- my life becomes shittier. _

Kim takes a deep breath as she enters the doors to the high school.

She was overthinking things. Today was going to be a totally normal and uneventful day. She was certain of it.

_A/N: Hey! Sorry for the huge wait for this update. I know its a lot shorter than usual, but I wanted to get_ something _out. I have a lot of fun (and angst lol) planned out for these two so I hope you stick around! _


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